Slinging it backside against two-high
So, let’s play along with these defenses. They’re going to show offenses these two-high looks and force us to run the football, hoping we take the bait. These defenses will stay light up front, keep two safeties deep and hope to be in position to break on throws if we are stubborn enough to throw against these designs.
Let’s craft some ways to throw against these designs.
Take this play from the Pittsburgh Steelers last season, which could be a good starting point. They’re squaring off with Fangio and the Denver Broncos, one of the main drivers behind this discussion. Sure enough, Denver shows a light box and two-deep safeties pre-snap for this play. Ben Roethlisberger takes the snap and shows run action — turning to his left first — before snapping his eyes backside to throw a speed out on the right against the Quarters coverage:
You can almost start to wonder if the Broncos were indeed “slinging the fits” here. They have two overhang defenders — one flexed out into the slot and the other widened a bit over the wing tight end. That defender sees Roethlisberger turn away from him and sides down — perhaps as Cogan would coach him to do — but in this instance, it creates space for Roethlisberger to attack on this backside speed out.
Here is another example of this kind of look in action, from the Chiefs this past season against the Saints. Patrick Mahomes carries out a mesh with his running back by turning to his left — with the defense in a two-high look before the snap — before snapping back to the other side of the field and throwing the hitch route to the boundary against a cornerback playing off-coverage in Quarters:
Spinning back against these looks and attacking away from the side the quarterback opens up to creates opportunities for the offense. However, we’re showing examples of two NFL quarterbacks, both of whom are likely going to end up in Canton. And let’s face it, Mahomes is an alien. More often than not, you see quarterbacks simply throw to the side they open to on these designs, and with good reason. It takes guts for a quarterback to open to one side and simply throw to the backside, because that player is assuming that things are going to be favorable when his eyes flash backside. And what’s the old adage about making assumptions, both in football and life?
Yeah, not something you want to do often.
So we’ll need to turn to other route designs to attack these two-high schemes.